When breeding coon hounds it’s hard to make that “perfect” match that will kick out a litter of all super stars that start running and treeing their own coon at 6 months old and split treeing at 9 months old. In fact, that is usually pretty uncommon although I have hunted and owned coon dogs that were like this, they are few and far between.

When crossing different coon dog bloodlines it can sometimes be like playing the lottery. My experience in breeding coon hounds is that “line-breeding” works best. Line-breeding is simply crossing similar bloodlines. For example they may have the same grand-sire. Or maybe their grand-dams were litter mates or cousins. Or they could simply just have the same dog or its brother/sister show up somewhere in their 7 generation pedigree. These crosses can be as close as half brother and sisters being bred. In fact, I owed a Treeing Walker Coon Hound whose parents were both sired by Gr. Nt. Ch. Hicountry’s Nite Heat and he was a pretty solid hound. However, I don’t recommend line-breeding this close.

My experience in breeding coon dogs has shown that the best line-breeding cross is the breeding of first cousins. This means that one of the parents of the breeding pair will be brothers and/or sisters. The most common being the sires of the breeding pair will be brothers. However, I must note that when doing this you must choose quality bloodlines. The reason this works so good is because it doubles up on the genetics. This means the puppies are more likely to have the same qualities as their ancestors. So this also stands true for the negative qualities. So if you are breeding first cousins who have a lot of negative qualities the chances are doubled that the coon hound puppies will have these same negative qualities.

Now, how do I know this works? It is very easy for those who follow coon dog bloodlines. I used to co-own a Treeing Walker Coon Hound stud dog name Gr. Nt. Ch. Abbot’s Bawling Rebel who is now known to be a proven reproducer. Bawling Rebel was bred to several daughter’s of Gr. Nt. Ch. Stylish Harry who was owned by Tim Ball. The most famous of these crosses produced quality coon hounds such as Gr. Nt. Ch. Stylish Platinum (sold for $30,000), Dual Grand Ch. Stylish Gold (another proven reproducer), and many others. Bawling Rebel’s sire was Gr. Nt. Ch. Ole South’s Stylish Rebel and was a brother to Ball’s Stylish Harry. The list of hounds that come from just this cross and similar ones can justify the benefits of line-breeding first cousins. But this is just one particular bloodlines of thousands that have used this successfully. The Wipeout bloodline of coon dogs is another good example.

In conclusion, when decided to breed your coon hounds you should strongly consider finding a quality first cousin mate. This will increase your chances of producing a quality litter of coon hounds.